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William Blake Questions
William Blake Questions
When reading the poem at face value, the children seem happy as
they
have come to ‘raise to heaven the voice of song’ to thank God and give
gratitude to the rich benefactors, ‘the aged men, wise guardians’ who have
rescued them from poverty and starvation. However, there seems to be
something slightly more sinister under-lying the poem, such as the ‘Grey
headed beadles...with wands as white as snow’ - not only are beadles
traditionally associated with torture, but the ‘white as snow’
seems to represent something harsh and cold rather than the innocence
that it should portray. The children do not seem free or natural ‘in
companies they sit’, they appear to have been ordered and controlled -an
image Blake would convey as a loss of innocence as he strongly believed
that children should be able to develop freely and naturally conform to the
ways of the world rather than be ordered what to do. Blake conveys his
feelings by subtly questioning the motivation of those who have
responsibility for these youthful charges.
The angel at the end of the poem can also be questioned as to whether
Blake has portrayed it as good or bad. Is it the good angel who has come
to save the children or the bad angel who, as in The Chimney Sweeper
made the children believe that everything was good and right
with the world Blake would seem to suggest that society is doing its best for
the
children and this poem ‘expresses the idealism of one who saw the
annual charity school service as a manifestation of loving care,
[whereas] the Holy Thursday of Experience presents the horrified
protests of one who recognizes it as intolerable evidence of mass
poverty in society.’ (Internet Source)
The use of the word ‘babe’ conveys a lack of innocence and childhood
Blake is conveying that children of the poor are not able to enjoy the
freedom and innocence that they rightfully should. Although they are
children, they do not seem to live in the state of childhood.
Thus Blake holds even the charitable actions of society are not what
they seem and goes beyond their outward manifestations to examine
their motives - making us aware of the conditions that permitted such
poverty to thrive. Blake is conveying with these poems the importance
of protecting and valuing innocence wherever it is found and that
society is corrupt in its treatment of children of the poor.